County, Solana Center Offering Discounted Rain Barrels ’til Sunday

It’s still hot out. But the months with our best chance of rain are coming.

However, County residents still have time — until 11 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 — to get a discounted, top-of-the-line, $90 Ivy rain barrel online, thanks to San Diego County’s Watershed Protection Program and the nonprofit Solana Center.

County residents who get their water from the San Diego County Water Authority or its participating member water agencies can apply for a $35 rebate from the Metropolitan Water District that could shrink the total cost of their rain barrel to $55.

In addition, the County of San Diego is giving its own $30 discount to unincorporated residents, which could lower their rain barrel costs to as little as $25! The County’s discount is limited to the first 200 rain barrels ordered.

Having a rain barrel can let you “harvest” rain right off your roof and use it to keep your gardens or lawns green the old-fashioned way. That can cut your water costs and even help protect our local beaches by preventing excess rain from washing pollution off our roofs and yards, and down our streets to the ocean.

The Ivy rain barrels offered retail for roughly $129 and have a locking, child-proof lid, are made of 100 percent recycled material, have overflow ports, protective screening to keep mosquitoes out, a ¾-inch ball valve to connect to your garden hose or to another barrel, and they don’t need pumps because they use gravity to dispense their collected rainwater.

Order and buy your barrel

Go to the County/Solana Center website. Scroll halfway down the page and choose one of the two locations to pick up your rain barrel — at the Water Conservation Garden in El Cajon, or the Solana Center in Encinitas. Once you choose a location, you can order and pay for your rain barrel with a credit card.

If you live in an unincorporated community or area and NOT in a city, remember to check the “unincorporated” box to make sure you are given the County’s $30 discount. The discount will be automatically applied to your purchase price when you’re buying your rain barrel. Solana Center officials will double-check after your purchase to make sure you’re eligible for the discount. You can check here to see a list of eligible, ineligible and maybe eligible ZIP codes.

You may buy as many rain barrels as you’d like, but the Metropolitan rebate and County discount are limited to two per household.

Finally, remember that your rain barrel will NOT be delivered. You can pick it up at either of the two pickup locations.

Apply for your rebate(s)

$35 rebates from the Metropolitan Water District are available within 90 days of ordering/buying your rain barrel, so go to the SoCalWaterSmart link as soon as you order your rain barrel(s) and click on the rain barrel icon under “available rebates.” Rebates are available on a first-come, first-served basis. You can check out the Metropolitan Water District rebates’ frequently asked questions and conditions for help.

Pick up your rain barrel!

When you buy your barrel(s), Rain Water Solutions will email you a confirmation of your purchase (look for the email with the subject line “Order#… confirmed”). Remember to bring your confirmation email with you when you go to your chosen location to pick up your barrel. And remember to leave room in your car! Solana Center officials say that barrels fit easily in any four-door sedan or SUV and even into some two-door cars.

The pickup for rain barrels at the Water Conservation Garden in El Cajon will be between 9 a.m. and noon, Saturday, Nov. 3, at the garden, located at 12122 Cuyamaca College Drive West. The pickup for the Solana Center, located at 137 N. El Camino Real in Encinitas will be between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays each week, or between 9 a.m. and noon on the first Saturday of the month.

It’s easy. Now you can start harvesting the rain and saving our beaches.